Excerpts from the media coverage of Kiran Infertility Center

From ‘The Times of India’, “Fertile-biz”

HYDERABAD: Going through a financial crunch, 26-year-old HR professional Ramya (name changed) recalls logging on to the internet to research a suggestion her friend had made- that of donating her egg to a couple undergoing infertility treatment. Overcoming the initial apprehension, the commerce graduate, who is a single parent of a six-year-old, decided to take the plunge.

Not only was it “not wrong” as she says repeatedly, but also a quick route to quick money. She signed up with a city clinic and after clearing the mandatory medical tests and psychological screening she donated her eggs last month for Rs 35,000. For couples planning that perfect child, egg donors who are educated and working were rare once. And for working women like Ramya, donating eggs was never even a remote option to raise money. But now the profile of the egg donor is changing. If they were from poor socio-economic backgrounds until recently, now educated and working women have surfaced as egg donors, although they too are driven essentially by a financial need.

Specialists say that such egg donors command a higher remuneration, as much as Rs50,000 for their one-time donation. And in one case, where a US-based couple sought an egg donor in a city clinic, they paid a handsome $2,000, since the donor was an attractive fashion designer.

Oocyte donors, as egg donors they are called in medical terminology, are much in demand, but those with good height and complexion and having good intelligence level are greater in demand with couples with deep pockets seeking to tailor-make their babies. If an actress in her mid-30s sought an egg donor who was drop dead gorgeous, another Indian couple wanted a Caucasian egg donor.

Citing the above examples, embryologist Dr Samit Sekhar of Kiran Infertility Centre says that some couples insist on height and weight of the donor while some stress on education if they themselves come from a highly educated background. And unlike in the past when people got their own egg donors, in 75 per cent cases, people now want anonymous egg donors. This, doctors, say is to avoid any hassle with the known donor in the future.